Photo: Family collection via Jay Stout

HISTORY

Elwyn got along very well with the Mustang, and quickly demonstrated his piloting skills.

understood to mean England. He didn’t

need to worry about his wife and daughter. They had moved to the family ranch

and would be well taken care of.

Righetti arrived in England at the beginning of September 1944 and was assigned to the 8th AF, commanded by the

legendary James Doolittle. At Fowlmere, he flew several familiarization flights

with the P-51, and the same with the P-47

at Duxford. Britain made a positive impression on him: “British people marvelous, friendly, sincere and interested in

our welfare—truly a wonderful ally.”1) he

wrote home.

He also caught up with a slew of friends

Photo: Family collection via Jay Stout

nomenal, but administrative factors kept

him stateside through July. By this time,

he was a Lieutenant Colonel, and as the

Allies had already made their way into Europe via Normandy, he was aware of the

possibility that Germany would collapse

before he had a chance to get over there. This was his fear, and, understandably,

his wife’s hope. Time before his departure

was spent by Righetti flying the P-47 and

P-51. On August 2, 1944, he embarked on

his journey overseas through the Overseas Replacement Depot in Greensboro,

where he spent ten days. In his orders,

the destination was mentioned as being

“cold, wet and windy” which was widely

Planning the next operational mission. Elwyn Righetti is at left.

February 2023

and contacts that he had made over his

five years in the military. His friend and

mentor, Fred Gray, under whom Righetti served while with the CIS, was CO of

the 78th Fighter Group, subordinate to

the 66th Fighter Wing. Gray showed him

around the command centre of the 66th

FW and Righetti could soon rejoice over

his posting in it on September 24th. Immediately the following day, he reported

in at Base F-159, just shy of 100km (60

miles) north of London, which was home

to the 55th Fighter Group, also one of the

component elements of the 66th FW.

He made his way to the 338th FS, to which

he was assigned, pilots’ meeting room

and discovered that he had no acquaintances there, and the same went for the

entire Fighter Group. His rank of Lt. Col.

corresponded to the minimum requirement for a Squadron Commander, and

even for an entire Group, but something

like that would also require a certain

amount of experience. He lacked such

experience. As an experienced and methodical instructor, he already had come

up with a plan. He would start out as a

wingman to an experienced fighter pilot

and earn his place the right way regardless of his high rank. After he was able to

carry out his duties in a satisfactory manner, he would become the lead of a pair

of aircraft, followed by becoming a flight

leader. Step by step, nice and steady. He

had no intention of making things easy

on himself and sidestep any steps within the accepted procedure. In any case,

doing so would not have been advisable

where combat conditions were a factor.

Rank was one thing, experience an entirely other. According to the plans of the

leadership, he would gain enough experience with the 55th FG to become Group

Leader, but not of the 55th FG.

Success Without Praise

Righetti took off on his first combat sortie

on October 30, 1944 and recorded his first

kill on his second flight on November 2.

This was an escort mission for 1,100 bombers to Mersenburg, near Leipzig, targeting an oil refinery there. The ‘big boys’

were escorted by nine hundred fighters

and the 55th FG was tasked with close in

protection for bombers of the 3rd Air Division. Righetti was assigned to fly wing

for the experienced Capt. Darrell Cramer, who had by then over four months of

combat mission experience. Enemy fighters failed to materialize on the way to the

target, though anti-aircraft fire was uncomfortably accurate and claimed seven

of the bombers. On the way out, around

a hundred German fighters attacked the

formation. No one from the 55th FG ever

saw such a concentration at one time and

for the first time, they felt what it was like

INFO Eduard

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